Justified Means (Book One) (The Agency Files) (12 page)

An envelope lit up at the top of the screen told him he had a text message.
He deliberated for several seconds before he gave up and read the message. Corey Knupp would arrive by morning. Backup. Sleep. The ideas were wonderful. So why did her coming feel like an intrusion?

At the first knock, Keith threw himself from the air mattress, grappling for his gun.
He peeked out the door, but a second knock immediately relaxed him. It was just Erika. He felt like a fool. No intruder knocks before entering.

“
Coming, Erika. Hold on.”

“
Sorry. I really gotta go.”

As he slid the locks open, he pushed the door.
“Hey, no worries. You hungry?”

“
Do we have anything worth eating?”

“
Oats.”

“
Cinnamon?” The hopeful sound of her voice made him wish he’d thought to ask.

“
Don’t think so.” He knelt to unlock the handcuffs. “There. Don’t try to run, ok? I’m beat.” Her smile answered for her, prompting him to ask about the oatmeal again

Her shoulders slumped, but she nodded.
“Yeah, it’s good for you—cholesterol and all that stuff. I’ll probably need it after so little greens.”

The moment the door shut behind her, Keith strolled back into the kitchen, pumped some water into a pan, and
set it on the stove. The change should have been a relief, but he knew a pleasant Erika meant something wasn’t right. The question was, what?

Keith jumped as he caught movement behind him in his
peripheral vision. Before he could ask her to dig out the sugar from the bundle on the table, Erika spoke. “It looks great in here. Thanks.”

“
You’re welcome. Can you look for sugar in that pile? It should be in a Ziploc bag.”

As she handed him the bag, she shook another one at him.
“I think it’s cinnamon and sugar mixed! Would Karen do that?”

“
Only if there was already some from something else. Did you sniff?”

She stared at him— hurt shrouding every part of her.
“What did I do now? Is it possible to say anything to me without scowling? Am I really that repulsive?”

“
Don’t do it, Erika. I’m trained to suspect the worst. So, either you’re wasting your time trying to make me think you are softening and trusting me, or you’re going to be hurt when I’m suspicious of you.”

The flash of pain in her eyes before she turned away told him all he needed to know.
She’d been at least partly genuine. The anger that followed had been real, but a glimpse of her wounded feelings told him she was relenting just a little. He couldn’t risk that. It was dangerous for all of them.

“
I got a message last night.” After several seconds, Keith concluded that Erika had no intention of asking what it contained. “They’re sending Corey to help. That must mean her last case is wrapped up. “

“
Corey is a she?”

“
Yep.” The desire to ask questions was impossible for her to hide, but Erika managed. Taking pity, he poured the oats into the pot, turned off the burner, and replaced the lid before he added. “I’ll get her to take day shift if you like. That ought to give you a break anyway.”

“
I just wanted to be cordial.”

“
And wanted me to let down my guard. What you were going to do, I don’t know, but I can tell you, it’d be dangerous—whatever it was.”

“
I want to know why I am here.”

“
I can’t tell you. I know you’re sick of hearing it, but I can’t. Even if I did, I doubt you’d get it. You don’t have to like me, and you don’t have to trust me even. You just have to listen and let me do my job so you can get back to your life and never have to think of me again.”

“
As if that’d be possible,” she muttered, filling a glass of water.”

“
What?” The dread in his tone was unmistakable.

“
Come on, do you honestly think I could forget being kidnapped and held hostage—even if I came to accept that it was for my own good. And,” she added before he could protest, “I can see that the burned cabin probably means it really was for my own good. I’m stubborn and too independent for my own good sometimes, but I’m not stupid.”

After stirring the oats once more, Keith jerked his thumb at the bedroom.
“I’ve got to go lengthen your chain. Corey won’t understand you being unshackled. I’m sorry.”

“
Whatever.”

It took a couple of minutes to unwind the chain from the
bed, and just as he reached the bedroom door, he heard, “Put it down and step away from the stove.” Keith rushed out of the room, chain in hand, and bellowed, “Put the gun down, Corey.”

“
She was going to fling the contents of that pan at you.”

“
How—” The stunned expression on Erika’s face confirmed Corey’s accusation.

“
I’m trained—”

“
You guys are worse than people with PhDs. It’s ridiculous. Every single time anything happens, you remind me, ‘I’m trained to be smarter than you, so deal with it.’” Her high, mocking falsetto would have been amusing had Corey not still had her gun aimed at Erika’s head.

“
Put the gun down, Corey!”

“
Not until she steps away from the stove and you put her restraints on. It’s a wonder she’s still here.”

“
Hey!” Erika and Keith grinned at each other as they spoke in unison. Wanting to defuse the situation before it got worse, he tossed the cuffs to Erika. “Put ‘em on.”

“
She needs to get away from the pan.”

“
Fine!” Furious, Erika stormed past Corey, sending her looks that could torture, and sank onto the couch to hook up her makeshift restraints.

Keith felt a strange sense of satisfaction to note that no dust puffed into the air as it had the previous day.
“Gun, Corey?”

“
I didn’t hear it snap.”

“
Sheesh! I got away from the stove.”

The second the cuff clicked around Erika
’s ankle, Corey holstered her gun, reached outside the door, grabbed her backpack, and dropped it next to the couch. “I have some things you need to see, Keith, but privately. Now, I gotta pee.”

The second the bathroom door closed, Keith turned his gaze to Erika.
“Oatmeal?”

“
I am going stir-crazy. I want out of here,” the woman hissed. “I thought if I got away, I could stay somewhere that no one would expect me to go.”

“
Such as?” He couldn’t help but be amused as she struggled with whether she should tell him or not. “You’re not getting out of here, so you might as well tell me.”

“
Fine. I was going to try Stafford House in Brunswick. I thought no one would expect me to go to some place so public, and I have no connection there.”

“
Those are excellent points.” At the sight of her happy smile, he almost didn’t continue. “There is only one problem.”

“
What’s that?”

“
If they managed to track you, then not just your lives, but the lives of everyone in that establishment would be in jeopardy. Instead of one life, it could be half a dozen gone. Stop being so selfish and just try to be patient while we do our jobs.”

Erika jerked her head toward the bathroom.
“Is she always so delightful?” Her tone told him that she suspected the correct answer.

“
Corey is very good because she sticks to the book. She’s one of our best. You’re lucky to have her.”

“
Yeah. I feel lucky.”

A voice interrupted them.
“Good, because I brought M&Ms and I’m ready to whoop your sorry tushes at seven card stud.”

Shaking his head, Keith poured bowls of oatmeal and said,
“Bring it on.”

The pile of M&Ms next to Corey was only slightly larger than Keith’s. Erika, a novice who couldn’t seem to remember a flush from a full house, made crazy bets that made no sense and munched happily—in a manner of speaking—on her “chips.” Aside from occasional questions or reminders, the game was silent. Keith knew it was a matter of time before the women pulled out their claws and things got interesting, but in the interim, he waited.

As he replenished Erika’s “bank,
” his phone buzzed with a text message. He passed it across the table for Corey to see, pretending to hide it from Erika. She’d misunderstand what it meant, but it would reassure her. Sometimes that was more important than anything else. TARGET LOCATED.

“
Good. Now we wait.”

He saw Erika shift, and reached under the table with his foot and touched her leg.
“Raise or fold.”

“
I—” she frowned. Shaking her head, she folded with a King and Queen on her face up cards. “Fold.”

“
I don’t think you understand the game, Erika. This is only the second street. You should—”

“
She’s probably tired. Let’s finish this round and play tomorrow.”

Disgust and irritation etched into her features, Erika glared at both of her
“protectors.” “Erika thinks it is just so fun when Keith and Corey decide to talk over her as if she wasn’t even present. She wonders why they don’t just tell all secrets since they seem to think it’s cool to talk around her.”

“
Third person,” Corey snickered, “how quaint.”

“
Cut it, Corey.”

Being the equivalent of a female linebacker, Keith
’s size didn’t intimidate Corey, but he could see that his anger hit home. “Fine. Whatever. You need to sleep.”

Unwilling to let the battle happen, Keith went to brush his teeth and
take a quick bath. When he returned, Corey pointed to the bedroom. “You need real sleep, Keith. There’s no way you’ll be able to sleep well with us making noise out here.”

He started to protest, but the expression on Corey
’s face was a familiar one. She’d fight him until he did what she wanted, and he didn’t have the stamina left for it. Grabbing the air mattress from against the wall, he dragged it to the door of the bedroom. As Corey started to protest, Keith lost his patience. “Enough. Don’t even go there.”

“
What?” Erika stared at both them, frustrated.”

“
She was trying to be helpful, but she’s going to mind her own business now,” Keith growled as he returned for his sleeping bag. “Wake me up when she’s ready to go to bed.”

He hadn
’t been out for an hour when a screaming match jerked him from sleep. Listening to the insults and accusations hurled in the other room, Keith tried not to smile. Erika managed to shred Corey in both insults and logic. The combination was brilliant.

“
—stop and think for a moment, you’d realize that talking to me instead of over me might get you just a little cooperation.”

“
I don’t have to cooperate with you. I have to protect you until we know you are no longer in danger. That’s it.”

“
What ever happened to freedom? I mean, even the Witness Protection program is voluntary! I swear I’m ready to sue the US Government for everything that I can!”

“
Go ahead. I’d like to see you try.”

He stood and moved toward the door, ready to jump in and put a stop to it, but Erika
’s next sentence stopped him. “You really think I’m weak, don’t you? At least Keith shows me courtesy and respect. You’re just a bully, and I won’t stand for it. I’m going to go public with this thing when this is over and make sure that the government answers for violations of my constitutional rights.”

“
It won’t work, Erika.”

Corey
’s voice was so revoltingly patronizing that Keith wanted to slap her upside the head himself. He took another step toward the door, and waited. Would Erika back down, or go for the jugular? Or worse, would Corey lose what professionalism she had left?